


A sign from up above

by harin91



Category: Actor RPF, Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Quidditch, Quidditch Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21892117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harin91/pseuds/harin91
Summary: Hogwarts AU - Rami is a Ravenclaw Chaser, Joe is about to become his biggest fanboy.
Relationships: Rami Malek/Joe Mazzello
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: Mazlek Fic Exchange 2019





	A sign from up above

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rathernotmyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathernotmyname/gifts).



> When I saw this Hogwarts AU prompt in my assigment I was so damn overjoyed! I love Hogwarts AUs and I especially adore Quidditch (like all sports in general...) and always wanted to write about it. This fic gave me the opportunity to study more about the game, even though maybe I've used some therms and situations more appropriate for football... sorry about that :')
> 
> Enjoy, dear rathernotmyname and mazlek fans :)

It’s the middle of December and the air blowing strongly all around Rami and his broom is freezing, humid with ice and mist.

It’s the last game before Christmas and he’s zipping fast through the wet particles, sweeping the drops from his forehead and eyes every time he has a second to spare: the rest of the time he’s chasing the Quaffle or gripping it in his forearm or intercepting a pass between two players of the opposite team or catching a throw from his fellow Ravenclaw Chasers.

He loves the game in every weather condition, but he won’t deny being relieved the half season will soon be over and there would be no other games until the end of March.

The air is filled with the cheers of the crowd of Hogwarts students and professors, the voice of the commentator booming over the indistinct chattering: almost all of it is lost to the ears of the players, muffled by the wind and the thick fog and the agonistic heat.

Ravenclaw is just a few goals behind the opposite team, Gryffindor, at the moment leading the table with two wins and a larger points difference. There’s still half the match to reclaim the victory, but at the same time the weather is so averse to this game that Rami is wishing their Seeker would hurry up in catching the Snitch so they could all wrap this up early and have the longest hot shower in their lives.

Their Seeker, though, is floating in mid-air looking mostly cold and sad and the only thing Rami can do is send him a thumb up sign in a rare moment of break in the game, as the referee assigns a penalty to Gryffindor after a blagging foul by one of Rami’s teammates.

During the penalty, which their Keeper miraculously saves, Rami shivers under his uniform and cape, cursing himself for not wearing a third layer of clothes underneath.   
Even his two pair of socks aren’t keeping his feet warm enough in his soaking wet boots.

Then, there’s no time for anything else but the race.

Rami may not be the best striker, but he’s a valuable asset for the team: he’s light and fast, unafraid of playing rough when the need for dangerous maneuvers arises. He steers and drops and tips and delivers the Quaffle every time he catches it.

This means that he’s one of the most feared Ravenclaw players. And the favourite target for the opposite teams’ Beaters.

He’s had to dodge some very obstinate Bludgers during the course of the season, but nothing as tremendous as the one that comes right his way the moment he takes possession of the Quaffle: a fast gust of wind on his left side suggests him he just avoided the heavy hit by a mere matter of inches.

It’s right back in a few moments, just the time to spot their best forward teammate and send the Quaffle her way: this time the almost-hit comes from behind, a blow that could be considered ‘dirty’ had it been hit by a Beater of the opposite team.   
But the animated ball is acting on its own, targeting him another few times before Rami gets fed up and starts speeding around the field, zig-zagging through the goal poles in order to lose the Bludger’s tail.

He stops after a while, looking around to make sure the ball has lost interest in him: the air is getting foggier and it’s more and more difficult to see just a few feet from his nose.   
But the Bludger doesn’t come back for a handful of seconds, so Rami steers his broom back down towards the field, speeding up as he regains position next to his teammates.

It is when he’s just about to halt his nosedive that a sudden blow hits him on the right knee and spreads immediate pain through his body: he screams and grips tight on the handle of his broom, but a second hit he can’t avoid reaches him right on the abdomen, punching the air out of his lungs and making him lose his hold.

He’s falling from his broom, reaching the ground right after.   
He doesn’t feel it, though, because he’s already lost consciousness.

***

Joe is enjoying today’s game immensely: it sure is a gloomy, cold December day, but there’s no climate that could damper his enthusiasm for a match of Quidditch.

He’s not even shivering, engrossed as he is in the game: Ravenclaw is playing openly and fearlessly against this season’s favourite Gryffindor team and the struggle is gaining the attention of students from all four houses.

Joe himself is in fact an Hufflepuff: sixth year, pretty average grades student.   
He has already found his true vocation, though, and that is sports: he doesn’t play, but he is an avid fan of Quidditch and, oddly enough, of a muggle game called ‘baseball’.   
Comes from the non-magical side of his family, for sure.

His ambitious career dream is to actually become a Quidditch expert and work as a reporter in the sport’s major leagues all over the magic world.   
If everything goes as he’s planned, he’d be a sport journalist in time for the next World Cup.

These are the thoughts briefly distracting Joe from the game at hand, as he has momentarily spaced out from the attentive study of actions and movements in the air, fixing a random spot in the gloomy, foggy sky.

Suddenly, the commentator gasps loudly, gathering everyone (and Joe)’s attention.   
A beat passes while the whole crowd looks up to the sky, eyes searching through the blue and red capes fluttering in the wind.

Then someone is screaming and pointing upward.   
Joe, from his privileged position near the grass field, a spot he’s been selecting for himself and favour for years, follows that direction and notices a figure hanging half off their broom in mid-air, struggling not to lose his grip: it’s Malek, the Ravenclaw Chaser that just a few moments before has had problem with a Bludger.

Joe had previously shrugged off the Bludger’s bad attitude, considering it a random coincidence, but now he finds himself gasping and fearing from the player’s well-being: the ball looks dangerously close to blow a second time, as if put in motion by some strange power of vengeance.

Everybody holds their breath as the Bludger charges and hits Malek again, this time forcing him to lose his grip and fall off his broom.

Someone screams again and someone else (probably one of the professors put on safety and surveillance duty) must cast a spell in order to block the boy’s fall, gently depositing the unconscious body on the field’s grass.

The Bludger swoops down trying to hit Malek again, but another spell (this time by the referee, who has by then interrupted the game) blocks the ball in mid-air, where is fastly grabbed and put back inside the restraining box.

In a rush of panic, Joe finds himself running out on the field and joining a small group of people gathering around the form on the grass: from his backward spot Joe distinguishes the faces and capes of a few professors and some players of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams, who landed and quickly sprinted toward their injured teammate.

After that, it is a matter of minutes before Malek is taken back to the castle’s infirmary, escorted by a professor and Malek’s twin brother, who had been watching the game from a seat not far from Joe’s.

Joe who gets back to his seat and tries to steady his frantic heartbeat, hearing the murmurs of the crowd around him as he waits, wondering if they are going to resume the game or interrupt it altogether: the weather is getting worse by the minute and the players won’t probably feel safe anymore flying in such a fog, after witnessing one of their own getting injured so badly.

For the first time in forever, Joe himself doesn’t really feel that much excited about Quidditch anymore. He shivers from the cold now, his thoughts whirling around the accident he just witnessed.

***

When he wakes up and opens his eyes, all Rami can see is the distant ceiling of the infirmary room, all decorated in gothic arches and squares, carved in ancient grey stone.

Everything is quiet and still, so he can concentrate on remembering what happened and regaining sensation all through his body: his knee hurts like hell and he can’t move it, as it seems to be restrained by a cast or something.   
His stomach aches painfully and he recalls being hit by the Bludger and falling off his broom.

There’s a presence next to his bed and his sixth sense of twin can determine it being Sami even before he turns his head to glance at his brother.

“How do you feel?” asks Sami immediately after noticing his movement.   
He sits up straighter on the chair at his bedside, looking like he might had fallen asleep while waiting for him to wake up.

The room is softly illuminated by candles and the darkness filtering through the windows suggests Rami that night has fallen outside: he must have been unconscious for at least two or three hours, then.

“Like I’ve been repeatedly hit by a Bludger?” he croaks as a reply, his voice sounding hoarse and rough.

Sami just moves the side of his mouth, in a sympathetic reaction: “Can’t say I know how that’s supposed to hurt, but I guess it does hurt…”

“Shouldn’t you feel phantom pain, too? What kind of twin brother are you?” he jokes, trying to push himself upward to sit on the bed instead of laying completely flat on the mattress.   
He winces at the stab of pain from his abdomen.

Sami helps him, lightly scoffing in the meantime: “Sorry, I saw you go down but I’m completely unaffected,” he says, clearly ignoring the wave of concern his voice is still riding: “You got the faulted younger twin.”

“That’s just my luck.” concludes Rami, waiting for his brother to pull up his pillow to lean against it: “So, what did they say? Have I broken something?” he asks.

“Yeah, your knee. Compound fracture. And you’ll probably have nausea for a few days… the blow on your stomach was a vicious one.” explains Sami.

“Don’t I know that…” he sighs.

Sami just shrugs and for a while they’re silent, listening to the quietness of the empty infirmary. The wind outside shakes a few tree branches against the glass panes of the nearest window, casting darker shadows on the decorated floor.

Rami thinks about the game, how out there in the cold he had wished he was back in his bed, far from the wet and miserable feeling of a winter game in bad weather conditions.

_ Maybe this is a sign _ , his minds provides him:  _ maybe you should stop now and focus on your studies _ .

“Your guys decided to keep playing and won the game. They dedicated the victory to you.” says Sami then, smiling softly.

“I love my guys.” replies Rami, slightly shifting back down on the mattress and closing his eyes.  _ See? They can win without you _ , says again the voice in his head.

***

Joe has made his researches.

Rami Malek is a Ravenclaw 7th year. He’s a high grades students with an impressively good Quidditch record and a promising shot at a career in the game, if he ever wishes to continue playing after graduation.

And after what Joe has read about him on countless school newspapers’ articles and seen on blurry animated black and white pictures, he really  _ really _ hopes Malek will decide for a career in sport.   
He could become a star, a valuable player for the future of the English team.

The only unknown factor in this project Joe has already all pictured in his mind of newly acquired Malek fanboy, is the knee injury: if it’s too serious it could compromise the current season and the recruiter’s decision come springtime.

Joe must make sure that Malek’s knee is going to heal in a few months and the player can get back to flying for March’s game against Slytherin.

That’s why, after a whole evening spent in the library, bent over old newspapers, he decides that first thing he’ll do the next morning will be going visit the player in the infirmary.

***

When Rami wakes up the next time it must be morning: the sun is streaming through the windows, finally a good weather day after the awful fog of the previous one.

He’s once again being observed by someone, sat at the same chair on which Sami had sat before: the boy is a Hufflepuff, with messy dark red hair and hazel eyes.   
He looks fidgety, strangely excited, eyes darting around the room following this and that small movement from the nurse or the fluttering curtains over the only open window in a corner.

Rami must still be groggy from the painkillers and the long hours of slumber, but for how much he tries to recall this kid from his memories, he doesn’t seem to be able to recognise him.

“How do you feel?” asks the boy, who must have noticed him being awake while Rami was pushing himself in a sitting position, lost in his thoughts: oddly enough, he’s asked the same question as Sami the previous evening.

“Sore. A little confused.” he replies, clearing his voice to dissolve the hoarseness of slumber.

“They didn’t say much about how…” starts the other, gesturing to Rami’s leg: “What happened.” he concludes, for sure referring to the professors not wanting to reveal to the entire school how such an incident could hurt a student really badly.

“Knee’s broken, stomach hurts.” he resumes, not sure if he can trust this stranger with a complete medical report. The boy just winces in sympathy, not at all looking like someone who would want to use these informations for bad-mouthing Hogwarts’ entire scholastic system.

“My name’s Joe, by the way.” blushes suddenly the redhead, realising he hasn’t introduced himself: “Joe Mazzello, 6th year.”

“Rami.” nods the Chaser in reply: “So we don’t know each other? I was trying to remember you from somewhere and starting to doubt the nurse’s words when she excluded a concussion…” he lightly jokes.

“Oh, no I’ve just read a lot about you!” blurts out Joe, suddenly growing even redder on the cheeks: “I mean! I- I made some researches!”

“On me?” asks Rami, halfway between confused and amused.

“Yes, but not in a creepy way!” rushes to add the Hufflepuff: “I’d like to become a sport reporter, you see.” he starts to explain, calming down enough not to let his voice waver as he goes on: “I’m a big Quidditch fan. And I think you’re a good player, so I just thought I’d come here and tell you… tell you…” he’s at loss of words again.

Rami just smiles on, admittedly looking a bit dopey, on the verge of falling back asleep, taken down by the painkillers.

“You shouldn’t give up Quidditch. You should get back to training after your leg is healed and play the next games and convince the recruiters you should continue with a career in this sport.” says Joe, closing his eyes and clenching his fists in his lap like he is pouring his soul out, instead of just professing his admiration for Rami’s talent.

“Thank you.” says Rami softly after Joe is done talking, searching the other boy’s eyes to reassure him what he said is okay: “I really needed to hear that.”

“Did you?” asks Joe, stunned.

Rami nods again, slowly not to upset his still swirling head: “I got asked if I wanted to continue with Quidditch after graduation. I didn’t know yet… and when I saw my knee last night, I kinda thought this was gonna be the end of it all. My way out…” he admits: “But maybe I should continue and see how it goes. So thank you… I needed that, truly.” he smiles.

Joe’s blush is a deeper red tint now, but he smiles back, more openly: “I’m sure you won’t regret it. You’ll see. You’ll play for the national team in four years and I’ll be there to see you guys win the World Championship.” he says with certainty.

Rami laughs, pushing himself up a little bit more: Joe rushes to help him and Rami finds himself sighing in relief at the boy’s gentle, caring touch.

“You’ll come see me play?” he asks, resting his head against the pillow behind his back and looking at Joe, once the Hufflepuff is back sitting on the chair.   
He realises selfishly he doesn’t want for their conversation to be over and for the other boy to get back to classes.

“I promise.” says Joe, easily: “From now on, every game you play, I’ll be there.”

Rami closes his eyes, surprised by how happy these words make him feel: “I count on it.” he holds him to his words, before suddenly changing the topic, asking more about the kind stranger, the sign sent from up above.

It’s their first meeting of so many. An anniversary they both have imprinted in their memories.

***

Four years later, Rami plays in the Quidditch World Cup final and England wins.

Joe is at the stadium, as head reporter for the Daily Prophet.

When Rami gets assaulted by a crowd of journalists asking for his on-the-spot comment on the game, right after the referee’s last whistle and right before re-entering the field to raise the cup with his teammates, he immediately spots Joe among them, smiling proudly and earnestly, looking him in the eyes like they’re sharing a secret.   
And maybe they are.

Which is why he can’t help but escape the interviews with a polite excuse, at the same time secretly dragging Joe along with him, locking them both inside a janitor closet or something very similar, a confined space on the way from the locker-rooms to the field that forces them close together.   
  
He kisses Joe right there and then, pressing their still smiling lips together, feeling Joe’s hands on his hip and nape pulling him closer while Rami holds him tight, with fingers still shaking from adrenaline and emotion.


End file.
